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Smart City Mission loses sight of its mission for Panaji

It has been more than a year since the Union ministry for urban development selected Panaji city for development under its Smart City Mission. However, in a ‘smart move’, those responsible for handling the special purpose vehicle created for the purpose of implementation of the Mission in the capital city, did not use over Rs 100 crore fund released by the Centre under the Mission, and further combining the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) scheme to Smart City Mission, have started taking up city projects through joint funding, which may just not fit into the central ministry’s guidelines.

Furthermore, violating one of the guidelines of the Smart City Mission that the urban local body should be an active partner of the Mission, the SPV has totally ignored the Corporation of the City of Panaji, the ULB for the capital city. ... Since 2015-16, the Centre has sanctioned a total of Rs 209.18 crore under the AMRUT Scheme, including an amount of Rs 80.14 crore for non-motorised transportation and pedestrianisation of parts of the capital city, under the state annual action plans for the year 2017-18.